Vitamins - The Truth’ gives you over 80 pages of Valuable Information on the Foods that supply the Vitamin. At Last - The Truth About Vitamins. -

Hurricane Dolly heading towards the South Texas and Northeast Mexico Coast. We spoke with the National Hurricane Center’s Colin McAdie. We also spoke with Tim Millar from the Cyclone Research Group 15 miles south of the US/Mx Border. We will be relaying the broadcast from Q94.5FM from McAllen, Tx through the landfall event of Hurricane [...]

Gig Harbor RV Resort
We are at Gig Harbor RV Resort. This place has wonderful services and staff. The spaces are roomy and is a clean place to kick your feet up. Are You Dreaming Of The RV/Motorhome Lifestyle? “Well Then, NOW Is The Time To Get Down To Some Details [...]

15-Minute Resolution #5: Check the Asset Allocation of your Investment Portfolio
Here’s the next installment of my series on New Year’s Resolutions that can be done today, and not put off for “some day” in the future. We all know how that usually turns out… Last year was definitely a roller coaster year when it came to the stock market, and you may have taken the “just don’t open the scary statements” solution. Well, it’s time to take a peek and see where you stand. I won’t pretend that recent performance has been great, but if you made regular contributions throughout, you may be surprised to see your portfolio balance higher than it was in 2007. (Maybe.) Asset allocation is how your investments are split between different asset classes. The most generic examples are stocks and bonds, but you can also divide them further into categories like large companies vs. small companies, international vs. domestic stocks, or different safety grades of bonds. Other asset classes include real estate, commodities, or precious metals. Your mix of assets has a great impact on the volatility and expected future return of your portfolio. The easiest way is gather all your most recent financial statements and plug your holdings into the Morningstar Instant X-Ray tool. (If you want it to remember your portfolio, you must sign up for a free site membership.) The site will then “x-ray” your holdings and break it down by asset class: How do I know if my asset allocation is correct? Well, ideally you would already have set your target asset allocation, and all you would need to do is to rebalance your assets to that target. Rebalancing is a way to maintain the risk/reward balance that you have chosen for your investments, and also forces you to buy temporarily under-performing assets and sell over-performing assets (buy low, sell high). How often one should re-balance their portfolio depends on a few factors. See this post on How often should I rebalance my portfolio? Otherwise, setting an asset allocation can be a very complex topic. I recently pondered a very general rule-of-thumb where you set your stock percentage to double your tolerable loss in one year. So if you could only stomach a 30% stock, you should only invest a maximum of 60% of your portfolio in stocks. Here’s a big collection of my posts that I did when deciding on my own target asset allocation: Simplified Theoretical Stuff Disclaimer and General Philosophy Consider Simply Buying The Entire Market Efficient Frontier and Modern Portfolio Theory Choosing An Asset Allocation Deciding On The Stocks/Bonds Ratio Deciding On The Domestic/International Ratio Considering The Diversification Benefits Of Small and Value Stocks Equity Asset Allocation: Comparison of 8 Model Portfolios Investing In Real Estate Through REITs? Interim Target Asset Allocation: Looking Back & Some Decisions …See the rest of my 2010 Instant New Year’s Resolutions here!

24 Hour Fitness Promo: $0 Initiation Fee and $29.99/Month
24 Hour Fitness has some promotions right now for those interested. You can get $0 Initiation Fee and $29.99 Monthly Dues on All-Club Sport Memberships. Expires 1/31/10. Offer not valid in Reno, Northern CA, Maryland, New Jersey, New York and other select locations or at Super/Ultra Sport Clubs. Membership dues are $29.99 per month. All-Club access depends on membership purchased; All-Club Sport memberships do not include access to Super/Ultra Sport clubs. Taxes may apply. Not valid for current members. Dues must be paid by pre-authorized payment (eft). Alternatively, you can get a One-Club membership for $199 a year upfront. Costco members can also get a 2-year All-Club membership for $299.

The Barometer Bob Show for September 10, 2009
My special guest was Jennifer Willcut, former student at Ball High School in Galveston, Texas, and Lead Interviewer of Ike: A Documentary. This is a film about Hurricane Ike, the story tellers, and a torn city being rebuilt by everyday heroes. To learn more about the documentary click the link below. I also had Thomas [...]

Fidelity Drops Trade Commission Price to $7.95
Fidelity announced today that starting February 3rd, 2010, the price of all online equity trades through their brokerage would cost $7.95, with no limit on the number of shares. Previously, the commissions ranged from $8 to $19.95 per trade depending on asset value and trading volume. This is great news for my Self-Employed 401k at Fidelity. Phone and broker-assisted trades cost a little more: Customers placing trades through Fidelity’s Automated Service Telephone (FAST) will pay an additional $5 per trade ($12.95 total), and those placing trades through a representative will pay an additional $25 ($32.95 total) per trade. This move makes Fidelity more competitive with the other discount brokers out there, for example I have an account with OptionsHouse which charges only $2.95 per trade. They also announced commission-free trades for 25 iShares ETFs, which seems like a direct response to Schwab’s commission-free ETFs.

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